The National Financial Reporting Authority (NFRA) has published the list of 2,301 audit firms and auditors which have failed to file the form related to annual return with the regulator. The list comprises entities that have not filed the form — NFRA-2 — for the reporting periods 2018-19 and 2019-20, respectively.

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Audit firms and auditors of certain class of companies are required to file the annual return on or before November 30 every year. "For the reporting period 2018-19 (audit reports signed during the April 1, 2018 to March 31, 2019 period), NFRA-2 was supposed to be filed by November 30, 2019.

"As it was the first year of filing, the date was extended up to September 4, 2020. A review revealed that a total of 617 audit firms/auditors have still not filed NFRA-2 for the reporting period 2018-19," NFRA said in a release. For 2019-20 — the audit reports signed during the period from April 1, 2019 to March 31, 2020— a total 1,684 audit firms have not filed NFRA-2.

The due date for filing the form was November 30, 2020. The regulator also said that the list of defaulting audit firms/auditors for the reporting period after 2020-21 is also being reviewed and will be published soon.

"Attention of all defaulting audit firm/ auditors is invited to the fact that non-filing of NFRA-2 form is a non-compliance covered under Rule 13 of NFRA rules and attracts penal provisions," the release said. Further, the watchdog said the last date for filing the form for the 2021-22 period is November 30, 2022.

In the past also, NFRA had identified cases of non-compliance with the above statutory requirements and sent intimations to defaulting firms. A list of such firms/auditors was also published and intimated to Ministry of Corporate Affairs.

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